We’re very excited to announce the third annual Macaulay eportfolio Expo! This year’s expo will take place on Wednesday, April 30, 2014 at 6p.m. at the Macaulay Building at 35 W 67th St. Our past years’ events were great opportunities for students to show work that they are passionate about, and to learn from each other. This year’s event promises to be as exciting and enriching and we look forward to your participation. We invite all MHC students and organizations to submit their sites. Enter your eportfolio here.

Even if you entered last year, you are welcome to come back and show us your progress. Join us for some food, fun, prizes, and most importantly, conversation. See you there!

Description: In Fall 2014 I ventured to Madrid, Spain for a semester abroad sponsored by my Macaulay Opportunities Fund. The choice was not casual; besides for wanting to improve my Spanish fluency, I am a Sephardic Jew, a Jew with roots tracing back to the Jewish community of Spain which coalesced around the beginning of the 2nd millennium. For this reason my semester was a return to my cultural roots, and I committed to documenting the experience. My blog allowed me to share and reflect on my experience with others, but moreover, learn a lot about myself. Through the blog, I re-conceptualized my understanding of community, love, and my complete independence and dependence on others in a foreign country. This is the final product of my semester in Spain, learning much more than just a foreign language.

Description: This eportfolio consolidates my springboard research project on the French immigrant community living in NYC.

Building a New France in New York is a collection of personal narratives from French “immigrants” who have lived/currently live in New York City. The aim is to understand the meaning of French identity specifically in a Francophile city.
The research is in the form of accounts of personal experiences to grasp the meaning of identity on an intimate and individual level as opposed to generalizing through statistical data. The goal of this project is not to make a conclusion on the sociology of living abroad. Rather, it is to provide an archive of case studies that brings attention to how identity and place are connected. The main feature is a map on the homepage that shows important locations in the interviewees’ lives abroad.

Description: At the start of this project, I had several questions about identity and storytelling and the interaction between these fundamental elements that humans grapple with everyday. How does one’s identity influence the stories they tell? Does society’s “story” align with an individual’s? How do people express their identity through storytelling?

One’s identity is not isolated from society. The perceptions and ideas others hold create a specific concept that another is meant to fit in. But what happens when someone wants to present his or her idea of self-identity? Well often, they use stories. They want to explain things from their perspective, giving an alternate narrative to the script society has written.

As an aspiring Speech Pathologist, I was particularly interested in the identities and stories of the Deaf community. As I researched their culture and language, I decided that I wanted to portray this information through a creative method. I turned to documentary theatre, the process of collecting information and interviews to craft a cohesive play.

During my research, I used this eportfolio to display my research and writing process. The research on this website includes information about Deaf culture, documentary theatre, and the process of narrative and storytelling.

Finally, using the model of documentary theatre, I crafted a play chronicling the story of one woman’s experience growing up Deaf. Through research and interviews, stories have been collected from various sources and individuals to create this piece. Together, these stories form the character Dee, who shares her narrative as a series of flashbacks. The play begins with diagnosis and continues to tell her experiences of success and failure in the education system.

Note: Currently the research and storyboard for the play are available on the site. The play will be posted as soon as it is completed.

Description: This eportfolio emerged from my two-semesters research for Springboard project. I explored how legislation concerning rape has changed, repealed, and reformed in Pakistan since independence in 1947. My research methodologies included collecting information from published articles, books, and documentaries. In addition to many posts on research journals, I also tracked my progress and reflections throughout the process. The site is still under construction, so you will see many changes in the coming days. It will be officially released on May 22.

Description: I made a blog for this research abroad experience so that others who are considering to travel abroad may see it is possible with the help of the Macaulay’s Opportunities Fund. The eportfolio will be a lasting record to prove that I traveled alone on this trip with the help of family to ease the transition of adjusting. I have also made another eportfolio website for a 2nd study abroad trip: http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/bcchina/

Description: The 67th Street Scribe is a student run website that showcases the creative writing of CUNY, mostly Macaulay, students. It is easy to navigate and features author pages, an archive, tags, and a featured works section that all help create a more friendly and exciting website.

Description: This is an eportfolio to describe my experiences abroad and explain what I’ve learned about the new culture I was immersed in. When I first started the blog, my intention was to collect my experiences of these five months so I would be able to review them later on. But as I began to work on it, it became more than a public diary. It became a place where I could analyze my culture shock, document the places I’ve been, and evaluate the plays I’ve seen. I would like to continue writing in my blog over the summer, where I will be working for the department of Edu in Washington DC. While the differences between NY and DC may not be as jarring as the differences between America and London, I believe there are always aspects of location that I can learn from and analyze.

Description: I started this blog, to document my time abroad, but it became so much more. I had the opportunity to challenge stereotypes and learn about cultural differences. Making this eportfolio has given me a new outlook and focus on how foreign perceptions and politics affect our own. Before this trip, I thought about going into domestic policy, but exploring these ideas I now have a new appreciation for foreign policy.